Saturdays of Thunder/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ Lisa's Pony

Saturdays of Thunder

Flaming Moe's ►

Cultural references

• The episode title is a reference to the stock-car racing movie Days of Thunder.
• Bart argues with Homer before his final race and says he wants nothing to do with him. However, when Bart looks in the audience he sees Homer has indeed come to watch him race. This is reference to The Natural: after Robert Redford had an argument with Glenn Close, she makes up for it by attending his last game where he makes fireworks by hitting a ball into the lights. Before making a hit, he looks in the audience and sees she is indeed there to support him.

Trivia

• The scene in which Bart welds with his mask up caused a battle between the show creators and the network censors, who were convinced that kids would hurt themselves by playing around with welding tools. The show creators were able to convince them that very few kids actually use welding tools.
• Tapes at the video shack include: "Du Du Du", "Border Siesta", "The Bad Football", "Speed Boat Bloopers", "Frisbee", "Super Jock 3", "Death By Knockout", "Bench Clearing Brawls", "Blood On The Ice", and "Football's Greatest Injuries".
• The head of the National Fatherhood Institute drinks from a Super Dad mug.
• Homer double parks at the VHS Village.
• This is the first episode to use Al Clausen's full version of the theme song during the opening sequence. ("Stark Raving Dad" first used the condensed version of Clausen's arrangement while the full opening was last used on "When Flanders Failed" which had Danny Elfman's arrangement.) Although this version was first used for this episode in foreign markets, it's also used on all releases of the third season DVD.
• The sign at the video store reads: VHS Village, Formerly the Beta Barn.
• Marge and her sisters read Idle Chatter and Peephole magazines at the beauty salon.
• Harry Shearer based the voice of Dave, the director of the Fatherhood Institute, on actor Mason Adams.
• This episode premiered November 14, 1991 and got high ratings due in part to the fact that it was immediately followed by the premiere of Michael Jackson's infamous "Black or White" music video.
• Deathrace 2000 was another inspiration for the episode.